Out of reach

Personal Photo: Clay snagged this photo of the sky during our walk earlier this week. Such a lovely scene, it was easy to pause and admire.:)

I sat on the cold concrete patio outside, enjoying the rare gift of a 60-degree day in February. Though the cold seeped through the thin fabric of my dress pants, the bright sunshine warmed my face, and the breeze gently ruffled my hair. I had just a few moments left before I had to wrap up my lunch hour and head back to work, but my gaze could hardly be torn from the lovely scene of our backyard. The clouds meandered across the endless blue background, and created a scene that could have come straight from a children's picture book. I lifted my hand up to the sky, reaching for those beautiful clouds, appreciating how they took me so far away from the stress that comes with having my feet on the ground. I sighed, and considered how they seemed just out of reach from me, close enough that my fingertips almost graze the softness of their freedom, but far enough away that I was never to truly taste it.

As I drove back to my fluorescent-lit office to be surrounded by stale wallpaper and drafty windows, the clouds seemed to follow me, to taunt me with their mindless drifting. As the week tumbled on, I kept finding myself in situations that reminded me of my inabilities, my shortcomings, the things that I just wasn't. I felt like my time was not valuable, my presence was an annoyance, and my abilities dismissed. I craved simplicity, desired the confidence to assert myself, and the ability to let go of condescending comments. Just like the clouds that caught my eye each time I was outside, I couldn't help but feel teased each time I was reminded of all the things just out of my reach.

We all feel this way, don't we? We have all felt like the sore thumb in the room, like our abilities are not enough, and we are incapable of rising to the challenge. The devil has a funny way of pointing out these moments as our fault, caused by our shortcomings, as reasons to feel inadequate, and he can sometimes use the people around us to directly belittle us and make us feel like less than we really are. We have been uninvited, left out, called out, and targeted for various reasons, most of them entirely out of our control. While it might feel as though everyone around us has it all figured out, and that the secret to avoiding these frustrating moments really is just beyond our fingertips, these are actually chances for us to appreciate the way that God has already embraced us and that He has created us intentionally.

Feeling like the doormat that everyone else wipes their feet on is never a pleasant feeling, but it brings solace to know that no one can take away the fact that we are children of God. When no one seems to have time for us, we can go to God, knowing He will take His time with us, and never make us feel like a burden. Zephaniah 3:17 reminds us that "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty One who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing." We can remember that God cares about us, and loves us just as we are, regardless of how we may feel sometimes. Choosing to live for God, and embracing the person He has called us to be is not always easy, which is why this verse can bring such comfort when others poke at us. With so many things feeling like they are just out of our reach, this verse reminds us that God is right next to us, He is so near that we cannot separate our soul from the Holy Spirit, and He is walking each step with us. This verse highlights the Lord's love for us and creates a stark contrast between the way the world can treat us and the way the Lord treats us.

The key to this feeling we have is distance. We are told that certain traits of ours are weaknesses, or that we need to change parts of ourselves. It creates a distance from where we are standing to where we are being told we need to go. I sat down in my cold office earlier this week and opened my notebook to an empty page and began writing the lyrics to 'Yes, Jesus Loves Me.' One of the lines in the hymn is 'Little ones to Him belong, though they are weak, He is strong." While these moments of distance are the devil's attempts to isolate us to make us weaker, the lyrics here are a firm reminder that any and all of our shortcomings and flaws are made whole and complete by the Lord. We are never alone, in any situation, and when we don't feel capable, we can remember that our God is capable of anything, and that He is with us. Romans 8:37-39 tells us "No in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither life nor death, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor to come, nor powers, nor height nor death, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." This verse shatters any attempt at creating distance between us and God. In this way, when we feel like we are sticking out like a sore thumb, or feeling like we don't belong, we can abandon those moments of isolation and know we have a Friend with us in every situation.

Situations where we feel inadequate and bullied can quickly turn our days upside down. We can look around at everyone else who seems to have it all together, and wonder why we can't be more like that, whatever that really is. Peace, comfort, and freedom seem just beyond the horizon, right past the end of our fingertips, just ever so slightly out of our reach when we have days like this. Thankfully, not every day is like this, and we are surrounded by blessings that bring us closer to God. However, when the devil tries to isolate us from those blessings, to create the distance between who we are and who others tell us we need to be, we can remember the closeness of Christ, realize that the peace and comfort we crave is not out of our reach, but actually right with us. Isaiah 41:13 tells us "For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I am the one who helps you.'" We are directly told here that God holding our hand, and He promises to help us. Comfort, peace, and freedom from the shackles the devil tries to put on us are broken free when we reach for God, and instead of being just out of our reach, we can cling to Christ any and all times!